The Reason
by WIWJ
Summary: AU sequil to This Love. Jordan and Woody's kids are missing forcing the vegas gang to team up with the mourge gang to once again attempt to clear jordan's name and more importantly find the kids before it's too late.Again our couple face the age old ques
1. Chapter 1

_From This Love:_

_In their suite where Sam had been trying to remember what had made her decide she was capable of watching two small children, someone rang the door bell._

_She plopped Ellie into the play pen and glanced over to where Andrew sat in footy pajama's with his train set before wandering towards the door._

_She looked through the peephole and scrunched her eyes up at the bell hop out side the door before pulling it open._

_"I didn't order anything." She rolled her eyes in annoyance._

_"I'm looking for the Hoyts?" He said glancing down at the order in front of him._

_"They're not here. I'm babysitting." She muttered absently before she felt a rush of cold shoot through her body._

_The Hoyts._

_She made a move to_ _close the door but he was already too far in to the room. He knocked her unconscious before she could even scream.

* * *

_

**The Reason**

Woody leaned forward and poured more wine into his wife's glass watching her eyes.

"Are you trying to get me drunk?" Jordan laughed and he snorted.

"Takes more than this to get you drunk." He mumbled.

"What were we talking about?"

"Our Wedding."

"Our Wedding or John and Amy's wedding?"

"Ours."

"Too bad John and Amy's was much more fun. Atleast it looks that way in the pictures."

"Yes total strangers dancing around in formal wear has always been-."

Woody's pager went off then, it's loud shrill piercing through the loud restaurant.

"Damn it if this is another code violation.." His voice trailed off as he starred at the screen.

"What?" Jordan leaned forward.

"It's a 911 from Danny."

"And?"

"The call location is our apartment." Woody was already to his feet and half way to the door before Jordan caught up with him.

"Maybe it's nothing." She squeaked as she begin pacing the elevator.

"It was a 911.. You know Danny doesn't use.." Woody rubbed his hand across his face.

"I know." Jordan snapped.

"Come on come on." Woody begged the elevator shoving his key in and turning it to Security Control. "The last thing we need is to stop on every damn floor.."

The door opened and Woody rushed out. His security team was standing around in the hall. No one would look at him. He turned around and grabbed Jordan by the arm.

"Stay here."

"What!"

"Stay here." It was his final tone.

"You can wait in here Mrs. Wilson." One of the guards said softly opening the door to Danny's suite. Jordan shot a look at Woody and he nodded letting go of her arm and charging towards their door.

"Where are my children?" He heard Jordan ask as he pushed his way into the room.

Danny met him in the foyer his eyes were red.

"Where are my kids?" He said breathlessly. He looked over at the couch were a casino EMT was working on a nasty cut on Sam's head. He walked towards her. "Where the hell are my kids?"

She looked up at him and wordlessly opened her mouth only to shut it again as the tears started down her cheeks.

"Jack." He didn't respond he just starred at Sam. "Jack." Danny reached out his hand this time and grabbed his partners shoulder before he accidentally shouted his real name at him again. "Jack."

Woody turned around slowly and looked at Danny.

"They're gone. Someone knocked Sam out and took Drew and Ellie." Next door he heard his wife scream next door.

* * *

"He had a Montecito uniform on." Sam said softly. Woody watched Jordan pace the length of the room before turning around again. "I didn't realize anything was wrong until he said the Hoyts."

It was only them in the room. Sam, Ed, Mary and Delinda it was safe to say it. Safe to be the Hoyts. Woody thought. He stood up and caught Jordan on her return trip towards his side of the room, pulling her down with him on the couch.

"Why our kids?" She muttered. "It's not the cops.. the cops wouldn't take our kids. It's someone else.. Someone else tied to Riggs.. someone.." "Jordan stop." Woody whispered. "We'll find them."

"I want to call Nigel." She said distantly.

"If you do that.." Danny began slowly. "Your covers blown. You go to jail. You can't stay here... Your whole life-."

"SOME ONE TOOK MY CHILDREN!" Jordan Screamed towards him. Woody pulled her body to his and wrapped his arms tightly around her. His face pressed into her shoulder and she brought her hand up to his cheek. turning slightly as she did. "I **want** to call Nigel."

"Are we getting anything from the Amber alert?" Ed asked quietly. "Do the police have anything?" Danny shook his head. "They want Jack and Amy to go on television and make a plea.

"Shit." Woody leaned his head back onto the sofa. "Shit."

"I want to call-."

Woody reached over and grabbed the phone off of the side table and started to dial.

"I'll go to jail. I'll go to the electric chair just find them." Jordan started to cry half way through the sentence. Woody winced and started rubbing circles in her back. Delinda sat down next to her and took her hand. Danny punched the wall.

"Nige." Woody said quietly into the phone. "No everything's not alright. We have a... situation."

* * *

Nigel walked slowly into the break room, glancing around at the crowd of usual suspects.

"What?" Lily whispered putting her hand on her husband's shoulder. "What?" Matt Seely followed his wife's gaze.

"Nige?"

"Where's Bug?" His voice was raspy and dry.

"On a call."

"Peter turn on the TV." Winslow reached up and pressed the button. "CNN."

The amber alert appeared on the screen. Two small children's faces starred back at them.

"Seven month old Elenora Rosa Wilson and her brother three year old Andrew Jackson Wilson were taken late last night from there penthouse home at the Montecito Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas Nevada where their father in a sad irony is assistant head of security.

"Who are-?" Peter began before Lily let out a yelp. The names had gotten through to her. She walked a few feet towards Nigel who was nodding slowly.

"Drew and Ellie are Woody and Jordan's children."

* * *

"I never really bought it you know? I never bought that he'd have just up and leave and never look back." Peter Winslow said softly from Garret Macy's couch.

"Jordan must be frantic." Christina whispered moving her hand protectively across her pregnant belly. Peter put his arm around her.

"Jordan couldn't even put a sentence together." Nigel muttered. "She's considering turning herself in but they'd ship her back here. She wants to be there in case..."

"You said they want her to do a television appeal?"

"Woody's going to do it." Nigel told them.

"One of us should go to Vegas." Garret said suddenly. The retired ME pressed his lips together and closed his eyes. "They need a friend."

"They've been there five years Garret I think they have some friends there." Bug muttered, Macy glared at his replacement. "They need their family."

"Matt and I will go." Lily said softy.

"It would be aiding and abiding.." Peter reminded them. "Jordan's a fugitive."

"Woody's not. I help Woody." Matt sighed and ran his fingers through Lily's hair. "I'm gonna go make flight reservations and call the station. Capra can fill in for me."

"They're gonna give you a hard time with both of us out." Santana whispered to her partner.

"Nah. Capra will be good for the Newbie." Matt winked at her. "Works no fun with out you anyway."

"Will you and Amy watch Savannah?" Lily asked touching Bug on the sleeve. He nodded at her. "I'm gonna call Amy. I'll have the sitter take her to your apartment.

Nigel sat down on the vacated couch next to Bug and Garret.

"We should contact him." Nigel told them queitly.

"We decided not to." Bug muttered.

"They're his grandchildren. And he can investigate without drawing attention to them." Garret said still nodding his head at Nigel's words.

"Danny wants everything we've gathered on Jordan's case. And Riggs himself." Nigel looked over at Santana who nodded. It was her cold case. She'd held onto it over the years, running down every lead with Nigel's help. Nigel had made a promise and he intended to keep it.

* * *

"Right there." Big Ed's jaw clenched shut as one of his men stopped the security tape and pointed at the monitor.

"Oh my God." Danny muttered, looking at the large Rubbermaid container.

"Are you telling me my grandchildren are in that box?" Ed glared at the man. Danny couldn't help but smile at the way he'd called them his grandchildren.

"Are they dead?" Woody's voice came from the corner of the room.

"They wouldn't kill them and take them. If they were going to kill them they would have left them laying on the floor of your apartment." Danny said with all certainty.

"More than half of all murders occur when the victims are moved from one location to a different location." Woody slammed his eyes shut.

"Woody why would they want them dead?"

"Why would they want them at all?" Woody yelled suddenly bolting to his feet. "Why would anyone take two little kids?"

"Stop. Stop it both of you." Ed yelled. "Can you stop fighting long enough to find my Grandchildren?"

Woody sat back down and Danny turned his head back to the monitor.

"Sam was unconscious maybe the kids were too." He decided looking at the box.

Woody tried to swallow remembering Sam's blue green bruise and picturing it on Ellie's milky white baby skin.

Ed's phone rang and he nodded his head when he answered it.

"Show him back." A few minutes later the door opened and Woody's face went blank.

"Seely."

"Hey Wo.. Wilson." Matt stumbled. "The cavalry's here."

He held up one of Nigel's lap tops and Woody smiled for the first time in days.

* * *

The door to her bedroom opened and Jordan was about to tell Delinda to go away when she heard a familiar voice whisper her name.

She was crying before she even had a chance to answer. She sat up and turned to the door.

"Lily?"

Lily Seely took two quick steps towards the bed and wrapped her arms around her long lost friend.

"What did I do? What the hell.." She sobbed.

"We'll find them Jordan. We'll find them.." Lily whispered smoothing out Jordan's short hair. For the first time, she believed it when someone said it.


	2. Chapter 2

"Are we secure?" 

_"Yes."_ Nigel said with all certainty through the web cam. Ed looked at Danny who shrugged with a slight nod.

"Fine." The older man snapped. "What can you tell us that we don't already know?"

_"Not much."_ Bug called from the background. Nigel swiveled away from the web cam and Woody's lips rose into a quick smile. "_When do you make your appeal?"_

"Two hours." Woody mumbled. Two hours before he could blow Jordan's cover. Two hours before he'd have to go out there and admit to being Woody Hoyt again. "Did you make the list?"

_"It's a long list Woody."_ Garret Macy called from somewhere in the room on the screen. "_She tended to piss off a lot of people."_

"Tell me about it." Sam smirked glancing at Woody. He made a face at her.

"_Your list wasn't much shorter Woodrow."_ Nigel announced.

"Most of the people who made credible threats on Jordan are dead now." Woody muttered, he'd gone over and over the list. "Redding, Cahill, Parker, Malden, James.. Those were are most personal cases.. I mean"

_"That's why I think it was them Woody."_ If anyone else had said it he wouldn't have understood who they were, but from Bug's mouth it made perfect sense.

"You think the Albanian Mob has my children?" He muttered like it was impossible.

"_Woody it's possible. Who else would be able to figure out you were the Hoyts?"_

"We mess up here all the time." He told them. "It's probably a case we worked on here. We helped out with two cases here remember?" "The mob isn't so far fetched Jack." Ed said softly. He'd known him as Jack Wilson and he was always going to think of him as Jack Wilson. "They've got a strong hold here in Vegas too."

"Woody it makes sense." Matt Seely looked over the file's that Nigel was sending him.

"If they took them then they want something. It's been four days. They haven't contacted us. That doesn't make sense."

* * *

Jordan looked at the phone for a minute before picking it up.

"Amy Wilson."

"Hello Jordan."

"I'm sorry.. I'm not who you think I am." She gripped the phone hard.

"They're alive."

"I don't understand why you took them."

"Dr. Cavanaugh-. Oh. I should say Doctor Hoyt..."

"My name is Amy Wilson." She said sharply. "You've got the wrong person. Please. Please let my children go."

"Can't.. Don't have them."

"I don't understand."

"Took them back to your home town."

"Miami?" She pushed out the well practiced lie from between her teeth. "Why are they in-?"

"Stop! It's not worth it. Is it? Are your lies worth their lives"

"What do you want?"

"Albie Samson."

"I can't give you that."

"Then we'll kill them."

"Please.."

"You should get back"

The phone clicked as the man hung up. Jordan looked at Delinda who nodded to the security officer.

"Some place in Chicago. Probably a pay phone." The man told her.

"I called Woody they're on there way up." Lily said softly sitting down next to her friend.

"They'll kill them." Jordan whispered.

"They aren't going to kill them." Lily said softly.

"They aren't going to release Albie Sampson. I have nothing to offer the DA's office... but.. myself."


	3. Chapter 3

Woody saw her the second they walked into the Boston Police Department. Matt Seely put his arm on his shoulder and urged him forward. Lu Simmons's eyes were glued on the woman who's hand he had a hold of. 

Seely pointed to a set of chairs by his office and the couple sat down. Roz Framus crossed the floor to them. Woody stood up and hugged her.

"They're ready." Matt told Simmons.

"Good morning." Woody said softly looking at the row of microphones. "Many of you here recognize me as Woody Hoyt a former detective with the Boston PD. Many of you also know that I was removed from the Boston Police Department five years ago after an incident involving a dear friend Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh, who is currently a fugitive from the law."

Woody took a deep breath and tried to ignore the flash from the cameras.

" Five years ago, in an attempt to separate myself from the events in Boston. I changed my name to John Wilson and moved to Las Vegas Nevada where friends had offered me a job in security. During that time I met and married my wife Amy and had two children. On April 10th at eleven twenty eight, someone broke into our home and kidnapped our son and daughter." He stopped, the woman at his side leaning in and pressing her face against his arm. He kissed the top of her head.

"Yesterday, Amy was contacted by a spokesperson for the Albanian Mob. They identified her incorrectly as Jordan Cavanaugh and told her to return to Boston. We have come and ask for the safe return of our.." Woody's voice broke. " Please.. return our children unharmed. We cannot give you what you want. You have mistaken my wife for someone else and I am not that man anymore. Thank you."

He started to turn away when a reporter shouted out the million dollar question. Woody smirked at it.

"Do you regret your involvement with Jordan Cavanaugh? Do you blame her?"

"Because of that involvement I have my wife and two beautiful children. I have nothing but respect and love for Jordan Cavanaugh, and where ever she is, I hope she knows that."

He turned on his heals and guided the red headed woman back up the steps and into the prescient.

* * *

"Ugg!" Delinda scratched at the short red locks of hair on her head. "When do you get used to this?" 

"You don't." Jordan said softly from her spot on Garrett's couch. Woody pulled her against him. "I still use too much shampoo."

"You did good." Macy said softly patting the young woman's arm. Delinda smiled at him.

"I should have come clean. Offered myself up for Sampson." Jordan moaned.

"All that would have gotten you was arrested." Woody mumbled. "They're not going to help us."

"They're going to help you." Lily said softly. "Matt and Christine are working on it right now."

"Not 'right now' right now..." Matt Seely walked in from the kitchen. "Her contractions were getting too close together. It was distracting." He grabbed a piece of pizza out of the box and took a bite. "Couldn't think straight."

Jordan's eyes widened and he winked at her.

"She's having a baby?"

"She's two weeks overdue. They were going to induce her in the morning." Lily told them turning to her husband. "How's Peter doing?"

"Not half as good as I did." He pulled the pizza away from his face long enough to kiss her. "Where's my girl anyway?"

"You two have a..?" Jordan's voice trailed off as Lily smiled sadly. "You have a daughter?"

"She's Andrew's age. Almost exactly." Lily told her feeling, Matt finally still beside her realizing his error. "Her name is Savannah. She's at Bug and Amy's."

"Bug married Amy?" Woody asked quietly.

"And Santana married Peter Winslow?" Jordan shook her head. "Is Nigel-?"

"No. He's still Nigel." Macy said with a smirk. "No wife. No kids."

"We've missed so much." She whispered leaning back into Woody. "I forgot time passed in Boston too." She shot a look at Delinda who smiled at her. She was homesick. Homesick for Vegas.

* * *

He couldn't for the life of him figure out why they'd called him to Boston. He'd been in Chicago for the most part, and moving didn't come too easily. But here he was, standing in a small set of offices in the seedy side of the city, waiting to be told what to do. 

"In there." The man's accent would have made him difficult to understand if he wasn't used to the slow tongued speech of his associates. He wandered into the room.

The little boy was the first to look up, he didn't notice the baby with the haphazard week old pony tails until she started to whimper. He walked over and sunk down in front of the playpen.

"What Sweetheart? Where's your Mama?" He cooed before turning towards the little boy.

"She's gone." He told the man clanking together two small model trains as if they were crashing. "She's not coming back."

He sat back and exaimed the little paradox. He had dark brown curls but peircing blue eyes that wrinkled when he spoke. "What's your name?"

"Andrew Jackson Wilson." The man felt a twinge of heat rush across his chest as the preschooler chucked a finger towards his sister. "She's Eleanora Rosa Wilson." "Where's your Daddy?"

"With Mommy. Gone." Andrew smashed the trains together again before looking up at the man and examining the familiarity of his face. "Who are you?"

The man thought of what to say. _I'm your-. You can call me-._

Finally it just slipped out of him in a manor so similar to the little boy sitting two feet away from him that it hurt.

"Calvin Coolidge Hoyt."


	4. Chapter 4

_He sat back and examined the little paradox. He had dark brown curls but piercing blue eyes that wrinkled when he spoke._

_"What's your name?"_

_"Andrew Jackson Wilson." The man felt a twinge of heat rush across his chest as the preschooler chucked a finger towards his sister. "She's Eleanora Rosa Wilson."_

_"Where's your Daddy?"_

_"With Mommy. Gone." Andrew smashed the trains together again before looking up at the man and examining the familiarity of his face. "Who are you?"_

_The man thought of what to say. I'm your-. You can call me-._

_Finally it just slipped out of him in a manor so similar to the little boy sitting two feet away from him that it hurt._

_"Calvin Coolidge Hoyt"_

_

* * *

_

If his nephew had ever heard his name, he didn't show it.

He just continued to look angrily down at his trains. Cal tried to decide what he should do next. Grabbing them and running for the door seemed too easy.

Where was Woody? Was he dead? Where was their mother? Who was their mother? Jordan?

"What's your mom's name?" He asked Andrew softly.

"She's gone." He repeated back to him. "She's not coming back. We're staying here."

_The hell you are_. Cal felt the heat start to rise in his chest. This was his fault. His. And now he was sitting here with what he was pretty sure were his brother's children in a dirty office of a mobster. This was all his fault. Eleanora started to cry again.

"Andrew." Cal reached into the playpen and lifted his niece into his arms. "Your mom and dad are looking for you." _If they're still alive_. "They're going to get you out of here"

The little boy shifted his eyes back to the man.

"Amy Wilson." He said softy. "John Adams Wilson is my Daddy."

Cal smiled.

"Did your Daddy ever tell you another name? A secret name?" Cal whispered hopefully.

Andrew scrunched up his nose in concentration.

"You have to have the secret code." He told his uncle.

"The what?" This had to be it, Cal decided.

"Mommy says you can't tell the magic words without the code word." Andrew told him like he was an idiot for not knowing.

"You can tell me the magic words. It's important." Cal told him softly. "I forgot the code."

"Guess." The little boy stood up and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

It was so much like Woody, Cal didn't really even need the code.

"Boston."

"Nope."

"ME."

"Nope."

"Was it Daddy's code or Mommy's?"

"Daddy's."

"Kawanne?"

"No"

"Give me a hint please." He said softly.

"It's the song guys." Andrew whispered begrudgedly.

"The Kinks." Cal said grinning like the Cheshire Cat. A matching smile streached out across Andrews face. "Your grandpa loved the Kinks."

"I know." Drew told him rolling his eyes. "I know."

"So.. magic words please."

"_If you go down to a river in Egypt, watch out for the dead presidents_." Andrew recited in a sing song voice. Cal chuckled a little his smile growing wider.

"Nice."

The door opened and Cal pushed Andrew behind him, stillclutching Ellie to his chest.

"How's the family reunion?" An angry voice asked.

"Why are they here? Where are their parents?"

"Ah. Ah. Ah. Mr. Hoyt.. First things first." He held up a glossy eight by ten. "You hurt my family. I hurt yours."

Cal's face paled when he looked at the photo. He put Ellie back in the playpen and moved in front of it.

"We were good to you Calvin. We took you in when your family deserted you. We killed the man who shot your brother for you. We've been very forgiving of all of your inconsistencies. But this.." He shook the photo at him. "This is inexcusable."

"They're just little kids." Cal breathed.

"Call your FBI friends and tell them you're not interested anymore. Tell them you will not be their rat anymore."

"And if I do that?"

"Then maybe I won't kill them." He said nodding his head toward the children. "Call."

* * *

"_Detective Hoyt_?" If he would have been sleeping, the call would have woken him in the middle of the night.

"It's not Detective any longer." He muttered into the phone, feeling Jordan roll over towards him in the dark. He'd figured she wasn't sleeping either.

"_This is Angent Henry Collins with the FBI. We'd like to speak with you, Sir_."

"Is this about my children?" He sat up and turned on the light. Jordan's wide eyes focused on him.

"_It's about your brother, Sir. He's been our inside source in a recent mob sting_."

"My brother?"

"_Yes_."

"Oh my God, Calvin what have you done?"

"_Detective Hoyt_?"

"It's just **Hoyt**." Woody growled.

"_I need to know if this phrase means anything to you_." Woody moved over and hit the speaker phone.

"Go on."

"_Your brother told us to tell you to 'he's met a pharos's share of dead presidents and he's holding on to them_.'" Jordan gasped beside him as Woody's head bobbed the ceiling.

"He has my kids." Woody whispered, scrambling towards the receiver and picking up the phone again. "He has my kids."


	5. Chapter 5

"So he's been helping to bring them down?" Matt Seely clarified. "He's undercover?" 

"He's taking a plea." Woody grumbled. "Don't make him sound like some kind of a hero. He put my kids in danger."

"Woody he put himself in danger for them." Jordan whispered.

"Why do you always look for the bestin him?"

"Because I love you and he's your brother." She said sharply. "Now sit." He stopped pacing and flopped into the chair beside her.

He tilted his head against hers and closed his eyes. She took his hand.

"This isn't your fault." She whispered.

"It's not yours either." Delinda said calmly. "All that blaming for nothing. It didn't have anything to do with you or Albie Sampson."

"It was a cover. To force you out of hiding. Out of Vegas." Seely agreed nodding. "Why?"

"Because we're not cops.. we don't need proof.." Woody mumbled. He looked at Jordan who swallowed hard. "No rules in Vegas."

"Huh?"

"Danny and Big Ed. They were afraid to mess with Danny and Big Ed." Delinda realized.

Seely looked hurt for a moment. Woody shook his head at him and started to explain.

"Don't take it as a personal affront to your fear factor, Seely. You're a cop. You have rules. Limits. We don't." He looked at Jordan meaningfully. "_**We**_...look at that." She shot him a sad smile.

Delinda smirked. He wasn't a cop anymore, not even in his own head. He was one of them.

"They tricked you out of Vegas to avoid the wrath of GI Joe?" Seely shook his head.

"Danny's very.. good." Delinda whispered.

"They didn't want to deal with Danny's.. style.." Jordan tried to help explain.

"Well the jokes on them." Delinda's eyes shot to the door. Danny McCoywas leaning diagonally in the door frame. "Somebody call for back up?"

Danny grinned at Woody, who shook his head in amazement.

"Good to see you, Partner." Hoyt smirked back at him.

* * *

"I'm telling you Lil. It was like that damn song. You know.. the one by the guy with the boot up your ass?" She scrunched up her eyes and shook her head at her husband. "Not _your_ ass.."

"Matt." She handed him a dishtowel before passing him a clean dripping plate.

"You know.. him and the guy that looks like Kenny Rodgers only older and more drugged up."

"Mathew."

"The one about drunk horses." He quipped rubbing the plate a little too hard.

"Sweetheart."

"Like the whole damn Calvary had rode in all wrapped up in one muscular package."

Lily cleared her throat. He shook his head.

" Toby Keith.. that's it!" He yelled. "Thank God."

"DETECTIVE!" Lily shouted over his mussing. He blinked at her. "You're jealous of Danny McCoy?"

"No way."

"You haven't been Woody's partner in years and the two of you never clicked like you and Christine do."

"Yeah well.. that was before the baby." He muttered. "Now she's all in Mommy mode. I mean when are we going to get back to work around here?"

"It's been two days." Lily laughed.

"It's been.. It's only been two days?" He ran his hand across his face when she nodded. "It seems like it's taking forever."

"Children's lives are at stake."

"I just keep thinking..." He looked down the hall towards Savannah's room.

"Me too." She sighed pulling him towards her chest.

"Your brother's just a pain in the ass right? Not-?" He asked, muffled by her shoulder.

"A mobster.. not so much." Lily laughed. "She's fine. Safe at home."

"So were they." He reminded her.

"We'll find them." The words still rolled easily off her tongue, but as days went by she found them more difficult to believe.

* * *

"I did what you asked." Cal rubbed his face with his palms. "Let them go."

"The FBI is still here in town." The man told him, offering a French fry to Andrew. The boy looked at his uncle, Cal nodded. He gobbled it hungrily. "Why is that?"

"They're hungry." He said softly, ignoring the question. "Ellie needs baby formula." He looked at her asleep in the playpen. "She's a baby."

"She could be a sewer rat for all I care!" He shouted loudly. Drew moved back towards Cal. He put a protective hand on his shoulder.

"Let them go." He said quickly. "You have me."

"I don't want any of you." He told Cal roughly. "I just want to know what I can get for you."

"They won't negotiate with you. Not the BPD." Hoyt picked Drew up and settled onto the couch.

"No, but a former detective you and I both know will." He looked down at his dinner. "When he finds out I have his children."

Calvin closed his eyes and hoped Woody got his message.


	6. Chapter 6

"We wait. Get a Swat team and go in as soon as it's dark." Matt Seely shott a look back at Woody before leaning over the table. 

"No, we go alone. As soon as possible." Danny searched the map with his eyes as if the location was going to jump out at him.

"Look GI Joe, it's-." Seely began.

"I'm sorry inspector gadget? Did you say-?" Danny asked calmly.

"One at a time! I don't know which one of you to ignore first." The FBI agent smirked, pressing the phone against his ear and nodding. "Okay."

Woody's eyes flipped back and forth between the map and the agent.

He grabbed a red marker and circled a spot on the map.

"I'm calling in a-."

"I'll go take a look at the building-."

"This is an FBI matter. You'll both-."

The loud slam of the door stopped them all short.

"Woody?" Matt called weakly walking over to the door.

"Damn it, Jack!" Danny yelled pushing Seely back and charging after his partner.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Danny yelled catching Woody yanking his car door open.

"Bringing my children back to their mother." He shouted.

"Alone? Are you an idiot? The last thing Jordan needs is for you to wind up dead."

"I was going to wait until you and Seely stopped arguing but.." He tapped his watch face. "Tick-tock."

Danny opened the passenger door and started climbing in.

"Then what the hell are you waiting for?" He shouted.

"That's more like it." Woody mumbled as he started the car and peeled out of the parking lot.

* * *

"How the hell did they get the location?" Jordan shouted watching Matt Seely strap on his Kevlar.

"The FBI guy that Cal had been working with in Chicago gave us a list." Matt, looked over Lily's shoulder as she checked the straps of the vest. "We had some undercover guys ask around. They got a positive ID on Cal at one of the old office parks."

"And you just let him leave?"

"Well I would have tackled him and tied him to a chair but-."

"Danny's with him." Delinda said softly.

"Yeah and those two never get into any trouble or anything." Jordan grumbled standing up and making her way over to the door. "I'm going with you."

"No way." Seely quipped. Lily put her hand on Jordan's arm.

"You need to stay here and stay calm.." She started.

"Calm?" Jordan pulled herself out of Lily's grip and shook her head. "My husband is running half cocked into a mob hide out, where my children are being held hostage!"

Lily took a step back from her as she reached for the door.

"No." Delinda said softly, taking her by the shoulders. "Drew and Ellie need a reasonable parent, and oddly enough? In this situation, it seems to be you."

Jordan's lips twitched.

"Ironic I know." Delinda smirked.

Jordan rubbed her hand across her face and let Delinda move her back to the chair.

"Seely!" Framus shouted from across the room. Matt leaned in and kissed Lily before rushing across the room.

* * *

Danny watched Woody move down the hallway before he slowly turned back towards him.

"_Where_?" He mouthed to his partner.

Danny put his hands in the air and grimaced. Who the hell was he? The Amazing Kreskan?

Woody's eyes moved determinately back and forth between the two door ways.

_"Pick one."_ Danny hissed.

"_What if I pick the wrong one_?"

Danny reached forward towards the door on the left and let it open slowly. Woody's hand shook, his gun trembling slightly in his grasp.

He took a deep breath.

Nothing like an abandon office building to the old PTSD flowing.

Danny gave him a once over, eyeing him cautiously.

He was about to say something. Ask him if he was alright? Ask him to suck it up? Knock him unconscious and find the kids himself?

He wasn't sure.

It turned out not to matter. Ellie's cry pierced through Woody's glassy stare.

His eyes snapped forward, gesturing Danny to the other side of the doorway.

He complied.

Woody almost yelled "police" when he turned the corner towards the sound of his daughter.

He settled for _Hands where I can see them._

And there was Andrew, hands extended in front of him palms up for inspection.

"Daddy!"

"Oh Woody, thank God!" Cal breathed shaking his head. His brother dropped down and grabbing his son by the shoulders to look at him.

"Are you okay?" He whispered pulling him into his arms as he stood up.

"Yeah." Drew nodded slowly, he craned his head to see the figure behind his father. "Uncle Danny!" He giggled. Danny swept Andrew away from Woody who started towards the still whimpering Ellie.

"Oh My Baby." He muttered pulling her close and kissing her chubby face. "Hi Ellie!" He whispered. "Daddy's here. It's okay."

Then and only then did he look at his brother.

"Woody I'm-."

"Save it for someone who cares." He muttered turning towards Danny. "Lets go."

"This is too easy." Danny said looking around warily.

"You're right, it is. So lets get the hell out of here." Woody quipped

He ducked his head into the hall before sliding out with Ellie. He looked back at Danny, still holding Andrew tight against his chest. Then he looked at Cal.

"You know what? If anyone's going to get shot? It should be you." He grimaced pulling his brother out in front of them. "Go."

They were almost to the door.

"Seems I under estimated you Detective Hoyt." Came a voice from behind. "Drop your weapon. Hand's where I can see them. Don't drop the Baby Detective."

Woody set the safety on his gun and set it on the floor. Danny slid it forward with his foot as he eased Andrew to the ground and put his hands up calmly. Woody stepped in front of his son. Danny turned until Ellie was behind him.

"I'm not a detective anymore." Woody hissed.

"I know. You're a security guard now. _Pity_." The man stepped closer.

"What's he talking about?" Cal asked.

"Shut up." Woody growled.

"Don't you know? Your brother got thrown off the force. Seems he aided and abided his _convict_ girlfriend. Seems she shot some poor man. _Riggs I believe_?"

"Oh God." Cal whispered. "What did I do?"

Woody looked at him for a second before he looked back at the gunman.

"What? What '_What did I do'_?" He shouted loudly.

"Daddy"

"It's okay Drew." Danny said softly.

"I-. Oh God. Woody I'm sorry.."

"What did you do!" Woody looked back at his brother.

"He ordered a hit on Riggs."

Woody stood awestruck. Cal just shook his head sorrowfully. The gunman smirked in satisfaction. Danny watched him lower the gun to his side.

"Woody.." He said softly. "Woody.." He turned his face halfway towards him. "Jack!"

"WHAT?"

Danny turned back around, lunging forward towards the mobster.

"RUN!"

It only took a second for it too sink in before he grabbed Andrew by the arm and started running towards the exit. He felt Cal lift his son off the ground, following him out the door.

He could hear the sirens. Seely finally got with the fucking program.

"Take her." Woody yelled at Cal, trusting the now screaming baby at him. "Take her and get out of here."

"Woody what-?"

"I'm not leaving Danny in there." He shouted like Cal was an idiot. "Go!"

"Woody!" Cal yelled weaving his body in front of his brother to block his path. Ellie reached out for him, Drew just looked stunned. "You can't go back in there!"

"Get the hell out of my way!" He yelled, not noticing the police cars screeching to a halt in front of them. "My partner's in there."

"Hoyt!" Matt called jogging up to them.

"Get them out of here!" Woody said quickly pushing past Cal and rushing back towards the building.

"What the hell?" Seely looked at Cal. "Hoyt?"

"Uncle Danny's in there." Drew said softly watching Woody leave. "With the bad man."

"Woody!" Seely yelled again.

"Get your asses up here and help me!" He yelled back.

"**Move in! Move in! Move in**!"

There was a shot.

Andrew put his fingers in his ears as Annie Capra took him from Cal and started down the hill to the cars.

"This is all my fault." He said softly as Lois Carver lifted Ellie out of his grip as the FBI agent cuffed him. "This is all my fault."


	7. Chapter 7

There was a shot. 

"Damn it." Woody mumbled.

"Woody, I swear to God, don't do anything stupid." Seely muttered.

"Like what?" He raised his eyebrows at Matt. "Like this?" He coked his head to the left and slipped in the door.

"Hoyt!" Seely called after him in a harsh whisper. He put his hand up in front of the officer who had started instinctively to follow Woody. "I'm not getting people killed on my watch. We do this right." He looked back at the door. _Now what was right exactly?_

"**Oh For Christ Sake Danny, You Ass Hole**!"

Seely scrunched up his eyebrows at Woody's words and cautiously pushed open the door.

Danny McCoy stood over the man with a smirk on his face. Woody was grinning like an idiot shaking his head.

"Oh Inspector... Nice of you to join us." He said flatly, his face quirking up into a grin.

"We need the paramedics in here." Matt said into his radio. "The suspects been shot."

"No he hasn't." Woody said like Seely was an idiot. "He knocked him out. The only thing that got shot was the wall."

Matt looked at Danny who was blowing at the tip of his finger like it was smoking.

"Gun?" He said in a fake accent. "I don't need no stinkin' gun.."

"Come on Poncho Dio." Woody growled. "Lets get the hell out of here."

"Secure the scene." Seely told the cops. "Watch your backs."

"More like watch your guts." Danny smirked slapping his hand out and nailing Woody in his.

Matt was almost sure he heard the damn Toby Keith song this time.


	8. Chapter 8

Woody Hoyt rolled off of the bed slowly trying not to wake his family. His son sleepily whimpered at the loss of his warm body as he tucked the comforter around his little shoulders. He stood up, listening to the quiet sucking coming from his daughter's tight lipped hold on her pacifier. Jordan's arms tightened around her baby. 

He pulled his shirt over his head and wandered out into Garret's living room. Delinda sat on the couch. Her head tossed back. laughing into the phone.

"I'll tell them. Okay.. Don't burn my place down. TellDad hi." She whispered as she closed the phone.

"Home?" Woody asked quietly.

"What are you doing up?"

"What are _you_ doing up?" He countered.

"Checking on my club."

"And?"

"Mary and Sam are having way too much fun." She grinned. "Sam wants you to call her tomorrow when the kids are up."

"Good. I don't think Drew believed us when we said she was alright." He made a face. "You didn't talk to your Dad tonight?"

"Nah. Danny called him from the hospital yesterday to tell him Drew and Ellie were being released." Delinda patted the seat next to herself and Woody sat down. "He wanted to know when we were coming home."

"I figured you guys would have to take off after the party." He muttered.

"What about you?" She looked at him for a few minutes. "Are you guys coming home?"

Woody looked down, wondering why he and Jordan always seemed to have such a hard time pinpointing the location of home. "It's complicated."

"Can I make an observation?"

"Since when do you ask?" He smiled at her.

"You have me confused with Sam." She told him shaking her head.

"Not likely." He laughed. "Observe away."

"You guys were really happy in Vegas." He looked at her for a minute. "You belong there. You love it there."

"Boston is a big part of who Jordan is." Woody mumbled.

"Is it?"

"These people are her family."

"And us?" She asked softly. "Me, Dad, Sam and Mary.." She met his eyes. "You and Danny are like brothers."

Woody looked away.

"I should get back to bed. We have Jordan's big return to the land of the lawful party tonight.."

"She's really going to go?" Delinda raised her eyebrows.

"I don't know. I mean they'll be with Peter and Santana."

"I meant it when I said I'd stay. If it would help the kids. Even if it's just until they go to bed..." She waited for Woody to look at her. "They might need a familiar face."

He nodded, her comment not lost on him. He wasn't the only one who thought of Vegas as home. It was the only home Ellie and Drew had ever known.

* * *

"They'll be fine, Jor." Woody smoothed his hands down her arms.

"Yeah it's not like the mob is after them."

"It's Santana. Plus Seely put uniforms at the door and patrols are going to be cruising the block." He put his hands on her shoulders. "Delinda's going to stay until they're asleep. Everyone wants to see you Jordan, celebrate with you."

She nodded backing slowly away from the front walk to Peter's house.

"So." She said from the front seat of the car, facing out the window. "Bug offered me a job." Woody swallowed.

"Yeah? That's great, Jor."

"I'd have to renew my license." She said softly. "It would be weird not working for Garret. Nigel said he'd step down as AME when I came back."

"He must really miss you." Woody whispered noncommittally, as he pulled into the parking lot of O'Mally's Pub.

She watched him as his eyes searched for parking.

"Cal's trial starts tomorrow."

"Jordan I don't want to-."

"Woody... he's your-."

"Hey. This is your night. These are your friends celebrating your return. Let's.. just.. stop." He put the car in Park and she opened the door.

"Okay." She walked towards the Pub with out another word.


	9. Chapter 9

Jordan looked across the bar at her husband. He and Danny were arguing over there game of pool. If she squinted her eyes just right she could pretend they were arguing over a game of Craps back home. 

Bringing up Cal and the trail was a cheap shot and she knew it. But she couldn't have handled another minute of his 'this is your decision Jordan' tone.

_"That's great Jor.."_

Yeah great because this was her home and this was her life right? And she loved her job and her friends were here, her family. Right?

_Right?_

And all he could muster was "_That's great_.."? He deserved the cheap shot. The passive aggressive bastard.

Besides, she hadn't wanted to leave her children. She didn't care if the whole damn BPD was sitting in the bedroom reading them Goodnight Moon. She still didn't feel safe. And who the hell were the BPD to make her feel safe anyhow? They'd practically tried to have her hung in Boston Commons for a mob hit she knew nothing about. Home Sweet Home.

"Jordan." She spun on her heals slightly jumpy at Lily's words. "Oo.. Sorry."

She shook her head before taking a deep breath.

"I'm still not all that used to being called that in public." She sputtered.

"Did you want me to call you Amy?" Lily looked at her like she was insane. Jordan blinked at her for a moment.

Yes.. Maybe..

"No of course not." She plastered on her best smile. "It's fine.. really."

"Okay.." Lily stopped for a moment, watching Jordan's eyes move nervously back and forth. "I just wanted to apologize.. for.. today."

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

"For what?" Jordan shook her head as if Lily was being ridiculous. "It was no big deal."

"It's just.. Amy.. Bug's Amy.. and I never meant to make you feel left out. I hope you didn't feel.."

"Of course not."

"We should have just invited you to come along. I don't know why we just both stood there looking like-. It wasn't like we didn't want you to come along.."

"Lily really it's no big deal. I didn't feel left out or anything.." She lied. "I don't really even know Amy. There's no rule that you two had to ask me to lunch it's not a big deal." She waved her hands dismissively.

"I didn't even think about it. That Michaela's used to be _our_ place you know? I mean, God Jordan, we practically went there every week." She smiled shyly. "It's just been a long time Jordan."

"A lot's changed." Jordan nodded her head, trying not to remember the awkwardly lost look on Lily's face this afternoon. Lily nodded too.

"It's.. It's really good to have you back Jordan." She was trying hard to mean it, Jordan thought. And in a way she probably did, but neither one of them was sure in which way. Lily awkwardly looped her arms around Jordan and gave her a hug, sinking into her shoulder with an uncurious nostalgic sigh of remorse. Jordan however was quite conscious of it. Jordan noticed it each time she was hugged by someone from her past life.

* * *

"How do those two even work together?" Nigel asked leaning over Bug's shoulder and pointing towards McCoy and Hoyt.

"We used to argue like that." Seely's drunken remorse made Garret Macy roll his eyes. Nigel gave the detective a quirky look, Bug whacked him on the arm. "What? We did.. it's the whole 'alpha male' thing.."

"You were never the alpha male Seely." Bug told him flatly.

"I could have been. I was when he was gone.."

"And now he's back." Nigel told him triumphantly.

"Yeah." Seely muttered watching Woody point the stick at Danny as Danny smacked it away and pointed back at the table. Matt watched Woody smirk at Danny's words. "Wonder what they're saying.."

"Probably arguing about who can piss higher on the tree.." Bug snorted, watching Woody's failing attempt to psych Danny out before he took his shot.

"No, I'm serious." Matt whined taking another long drink of his beer.

"Maybe they're talking about you." Nigel teased.

"You think?" He chirped, leaning his head back to look at Nigel. The Brit grimaced at him. Bug took the bottle away from him.

"Your cut off, Detective." He muttered.

Seely grunted, but didn't argue.

"They're probably drinking whiskey." He muttered before standing up and wandering away in search of his wife.

"Poor Seely.. always a bridesmaid..." Bug shook his head slowly as Nigel broke into a toothy grin.

Garret noticed however how both of their stoic gazes returned immediately towards the men in question. Five years was a long time and it appeared this was going to be a difficult adjustment for all.


	10. Chapter 10

"We're getting no where." Seely muttered running his hands over his face. 

"Yeah." Woody huffed, his eyes falling over the mountain of paperwork.

"Lets start from the top and go over the report again." Matt suggested. Woody looked distractedly at the phone. "Hoyt?" The other detective's blue eyes lifted to his own. He was starting to regret agreeing to work with Woody during Santana's maternity leave. The Captain thought it would be good for him to ease his way back into police work after the absence. "Woody?"

"Yeah.. we can.. I was just thinking maybe I'd.." He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the number from memory before smirking at the answer from the otherend. "That's no way to greet a member of the police department Mr. McCoy." He laughed into the phone. Matt rolled his eyes. "No. Hey, I'm on a case and I want your opinion."

Seely rolled his eyes again huffing loudly. "I'm thinking drug deal gone bad. Yeah.. hang on let me look.. sure."

Seely wandered the length of his office before slipping out the door and wandering over to the coffee machine.

"Hey, I brought you your tox screen." Peter Winslow wandered over to him. "You look like shit. Case not going well?"

"Thanks to you."

"Me?" Peter grunted.

"Yeah you!" He hissed. "You're the one who knocked up my partner."

"What? Not working out with Hoyt?" Peter smirked.

"Nah. Hoyt has a partner." He chucked a finger towards the man on the phone.

"I thought Jordan swore off investigative work?" He asked, glancing towards Woody who was nodding in understanding into the phone.

"She did." He muttered. "I'd take Jordan any day. "

"Then who?" Peter looked a Seely.

He just grunted.

Woody slammed down the phone and hurried out of the office.

"Hey, Danny had a great hunch. Lets go. Hey Pete." He smacked the back of Seely's chair with the file. "Lets go..."

"Give me one damn minute.." He whined.

"Fine take two." He set the file down and started wrestling with his coat while singing under his breath. "_Justice is the one thing you should always find...You got to saddle up your boys...You got to draw a hard line... When the gun smoke settles-."_

"Shut the hell up will ya?" Seely snapped.

"What?" Woody mumbled. "You're the one that started it. Ever since you requested that song at the party, I can't get it out of my-."

"Are you coming or not?" He moaned loudly walking towards the door.

* * *

"Luv, you have got to look at my guys rap sheet. It reads like John Grishum. I'm not even kidding.."

"Sorry Nige.. not interested." Jordan said quickly brushing past him and into her office.

"Oh come one Luv! Your words say no but your eyes say.." Jordan shot him a look. "Okay so they say no too." She smiled trumphantly before looking back at her desk. "Don't you even want to know cause of death?"

"Do you need my professional assistance in any way?" She asked him for the millionth time.

"_Need_ is a strong word."

"Nige. I had conditions for my return.. No high profile cases... no external investigating... no poking my nose where is doesn't belong... you agreed to these conditions, right?"

"I didn't think you meant them."

"I meant them." She looked up at him before her eyes drifted past him to see her husband approaching.

"Hey Jor." He grunted moving past Nigel into his wife's office.

"Hey." He kissed her cheek.

"Bug called us about a body?"

"Oh good you're here." Peter stuck his head in the room. "How'd the hunch play out?"

"It would have played out fantastic if Seely would have let me handle it." Woody accused.

"Yeah.. um it would have been fantastic if not for need of one thing.. wait what was it again Hoyt? Oh yeah.. JUST CAUSE." Matt growled.

"Someone was too damn perfect to try just a tiny little bait and switch.."

"You've been talking to Danny again." Jordan smiled at him.

"You're a cop Hoyt. Not a Vegas shifter.."

"A Vegas what?"

"You know what I mean. Simmons is going to have my ass for this.."

"Oh please! I'll handle Lu! Leave her ass to me." Woody felt Jordan tense next to him. He shot her a look. "You know what I mean.."

"Sure." She said coolly.

"Jordan?" He looked at her questioningly.

"I said sure." She moved thought the crowd in her office and started towards autopsy.

"Jordan.." He shouted after her.

"I have work to do!" She yelled back. Woody muttered a few curse words and rubbed his face.

"Smooth." Winslow quipped.

"Shut up..." Hoyt muttered.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N okay guys. this is my favorite chapter so far please please let me know what you love and what you didn't.. Am I keeping in character (given the changes in their lives of course.)?**

"So now you're going to start throwing that in my face?" He dropped the dishtowel on the counter and looked back at her. "You're going to pick now to start being pissed off about Lu Simmons?"

They were fighting again. Woody wondered why this was becoming the norm, they'd never been like this. Not in the last five years of marriage had they argued as much as they had since returning to Boston.

"Oh yeah, because I wasn't at all pissed off when it happened." She snorted.

"I wouldn't have noticed Jordan you were to busy making out with her to prove you were over me." He grumbled.

"I was making a point." She broke off eye contact and began drying the dishes with his discarded towel.

"You were fucking with me Jordan don't pretend like you weren't." He shook his head at her with a twisted bemused smirk.

"No.. Woody.. I wasn't fucking with you." Her sarcastic tone was cold and angry. "You were fucking with her. Apparently you enjoyed that more."

"Come on Jordan don't even act like that's what you thought." He put his hands on his hips and looked at her indignantly.

"It's exactly what I though! I'm sorry was I supposed to think something else?" She shook her head at him. Her wide eyes snapping back to his.

"Jordan I-!" Woody caught himself midsentence andstopped. Heran his hands through his hair and rubbed his face. "Jor."

She tried to slow her pulse down and dropped into a chair at the table.

"Why do we keep doing this?" She breathed.

"I don't know.." He sat across from her and took her hand in his for a second, running his fingers over her smooth palm and pressing his thumb against her wrist. "Big Ed asked me to come back to work through the busy season." He pulled his hand away from hers and stood up to pace. She watched him. "I think maybe it's a good idea."

"You think what?" She said softly.

"Come on, Jor." He cast a quick look back at her. "We can't keep doing this..."

"You're just going to leave me and the kids and go back ho-?" She stopped herself. Boston was home. "Back to Vegas?"

"I was thinking I should take them with me." He told her softly. "Drew misses his friends. He can't stop asking when he gets to see Aunt Mary... He misses Danny and Mike. Ellie still carries around that stupid little photo album Mary made them, kissing everyone.."

"I'm not letting you take my kids away from me.." Her defensive tone made him shutter.

"I'm not taking them away Jordan. I'm taking them home." Woody turned back towards her, blinking away the tears from his eyes. "Vegas is their home. It's my home too now. It was your home."

"Boston's my home Woody. It has been all my life."

"It's not just your life now." He reminded her dropping in front of her. "We were happy in Vegas. You were happy in Vegas."

"I was happy here." She whispered. "Boston.. my job.. my friends.. It was all taken away from me and I just got it back. I just got my life back Woody."

"That's the point Jordan. In Vegas we were your life. Us... our children." He shook his head. "_We_ aren't ever happy here. Here? We're still Jordan and Woody trying to get our acts together. Running after the bad guys together during the day but running away from each other at night." He reached up and tangled his hands in her hair. "I miss our nights Sweetheart."

Her lips trembled. She wanted to tell him that work sucked, that her friends had moved on, that she didn't know where home was anymore. She wanted to tell him she missed their nights too.

"Woody, I can't keep running forever." She whispered, her heart breaking at the soft shift of disappointment in his gaze. He stood up and kissed her forehead.

* * *

They hadn't talked that morning. He'd felt her kiss on his lips when she left for the morgue. He heard Drew excitedly milling around the breakfast table, talking about what projects he was working on with his babysitter. 

He'd taken his time getting out of bed. He heard Jordan asking Ellie not to spit out her cereal. If this were Vegas, they'd eat breakfast together and then he would check in with Danny, go to the office, and be back in time for lunch.

Jordan would drop Drew off at school and maybe Ellie off at the sitters if she had plans with one of the girls. Maybe she'd stop off and work a 'case' with him. They'd play her Dad's game. They'd go pick up the kids, and barring no hotel emergency, they'd spend the evening at home, maybe go to the pool.

That was Vegas, this wasn't.

He wasn't exactly waiting to hear the door shut, but he wasn't hurrying down to join his family either. Woody gave himself a long glance in the mirror, if he looked hard enough he thought he might figure out who he was. Who he _really_ was.

Naive Wisconsin cop? Fun loving, good natured member of the BPD? Angry trauma victim? Dangerously rouge cop?

Or Jack Wilson, husband, father, and assistant chief of security. Montecito Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Today he was courtroom observer Woody Hoyt. Today was Calvin's sentencing. He'd plead guilty. Probably taken a plea. Woody didn't really know. He'd tried not to care. He'd told Jordan to go to work, he'd go alone. If he even went at all.

Only when he slipped into the courtroom did he consider that may have been a mistake. His hands started shaking when they brought him in, he rubbed his face absently and tried not to care that Cal's eyes had gone straight for him. That he was looking at him with that remorseful look he knew all too well..

"Woody?" Jeffery Bandeau turned to look at him. "I hadn't asked you if you wanted to-. Are you okay?"

All he could do was nod in a half hearted attempt to actually be okay..

His brother. His only link to his past. His whole life up until Boston. Jordan. The kids. He was loosing his grip on all those things now.

Maybe Cal was just the beginning? Maybe it was all going to go to hell? Why wouldn't it? Why had he expected anything different? When had life ever cut him a break?

"Are you sure? Did you want me to call Jordan?" _Want? Yes. Jordan. Please_. "Oh, there she is."

The words hadn't registered until he felt her hands on his shoulders He turned his head slightly, but didn't look at her, just lifting his shaky hand and laying it on hers. He took a long slow breath when she took it, tracing her thumbs against his fingers.

"I was just asking Woody if either one of you wanted to speak today." His grip tightened involuntarily on her hand.

"I don't think we-." She began.

"I want to." His voice came out in a dry whisper. He looked at Jeffery before turning his eyes to Jordan.

Her expression softened into one of pure heartache when she saw the look on his face. She put her hand to his cheek.

"Are you sure?" She asked him softly, he nodded again pulling her onto the bench with him.

"You came." He whispered trying to keep the tears out of his voice.

"You needed me." She told him cupping his face again. "We're a team remember?"

He leaned towards her until their forehead touched.

"I love you so much." He told her, his hand wrapping around the back of her neck and keeping her to him. "You and the kids... you're all I've got in this world. Please, don't forget that."

She closed her eyes.

"I won't. I promise. I won't."


	12. Chapter 12

"I'm detective Woody Hoyt. I'm... Calvin's... brother." He took a breath and avoided Cal's gaze. 

He felt Jordan's fingers graze his back as he continued.

"When I was asked if I wanted to speak on behalf of my brother or on behalf of my self, I wasn't sure what to say. Part of me wants to beg your mercy and part of me wants to ask you to get him out of my sight." He stopped, glancing quickly at Calvin, back down to his wife and then back to his brother.

"Calvin. For a long time I felt responsible for you. I felt like I owed something to you. I felt like it was my job to protect you, but you are an adult Cal. Its not my job anymore. I realized six years ago that my life was about protecting Jordan, and now our children. You put my family at risk."

"Not because you meant to or wanted to or because your a bad person, but because you didn't **think**!" He stopped when he felt Jordan's hand in his, taking a deep breath before he started again with a whisper. "You didn't think."

"I hope, this is the event that turns your life around. I hope that seeing the mess you helped make of our lives is enough to make you do the work that needs to be done. So that maybe someday we can have a relationship again, Calvin."

He held his brothers eyes for a long time, wordlessly willing him different.

"Do me proud."

He turned to the judge. "Your Honor, I'm not going to beg for mercy. The decision I made six years ago to cover up my brother's mistakes cost me my job and my belief in the legal system I was sworn to uphold. It cost my wife her job, reputation and freedom. Most importantly it almost cost us our children. That's my cross to bare. I beg you not to ignore my brothers irresponsibility, give him time to learn from his mistakes. I ask your honor that he be given the resources to turn his life around. Thank you."

* * *

"First of all I just want to apologize to the court, my brother, Jordan, but especially to Drew and Ellie for putting them in danger." Calvin turned after a moment and looked at his brother with a smile.

"Woods, I learned a lesson." Woody couldn't help but smirk. "There were two moments when I realized things that I'll use to change my life.

"The first was when I was in that room with my niece and nephew and our host came in for the first time and I realized if he was going to hurt those children I was going to fight to the death to protect them. They were not going to be hurt because of me. I was willing to risk anything. I understand now what it must have felt like in that club six nights ago watching a man point a gun at Jordan. I caused that then. I caused these two beautiful children to be taken from there home and drug half way across the country. I did that." He looked at Woody. "I'm taking responsibility.

"The other moment was when I realized my nephew didn't know me. Or that I even existed." He looked down at the table. "He called another man his uncle. A man who was willing to risk everything for him. A man who deserved to be called uncle." He turned to Woody again "A man who obviously has become a brother to you. The kind of brother you deserve. The kind of brother you always were to me. I hope someday your children can call me uncle.

"Jordan, you were nothing but kind to me and I destroyed your life with a few hasty acts. I'm so sorry." He smiled remorsefully at her before moving his gaze to the judge. "I am willing to accept responsibility. I'm hoping for a fresh start. A new life. A life I can be proud of and that will make my brother proud of me."

* * *

"Yeah.. intent to do harm, embezzlement and child endangerment." Jordan watched her husband from the door way of her office. His legs kicked back haplessly on the coffee table as he clutched his cell phone to his ear.

"Nah. I'm happy with it. They made a lot of arrests with in the organization. Yeah I think so. Jordan's starting to let her guard down more. We feel more and more sure that they're safe." His hand rubbed at his closed eyes.

"So what's up there?" She watched the slow smile pull at his tired face. "No way. What did Mike do? How much is he hating me right now!" He snickered. "I should have fired Sullivan when I had the chance. How's Mary? They miss her too. Of course Ellie remembers her. Sure."

Jordan looked around the office slowly. Books, sofa, cases, photos.. Boston Stuff. Familiar stuff. Her stuff. Her world. Then why did it all look so foriegn?

"Hey you." She must have zoned out and missed him hanging up the phone. "What are you doing back here?" He gestured towards the conference room. "I thought you were winning?"

"Nigel's winning. I was just slowing him down. I hate board games. I miss black jack." She smirked.

"Me too." He walked the distance to her sat on the edge of her desk.

"You okay?" She whispered. He nodded. "Are we okay?"

"We'll be okay." He told her softly brushing his hand across her cheek. "We'll keep at it until we get it right again." She nodded before leaning into his chest.

He wrapped his arms tightly around her. She felt her heart beat faster in her chest.

"Woody, I want to go home." She mumbled into his shirt. He pulled back from her and nodded.

"I'm not really up for Trivial Pursuit either."

"No.. I mean... " She looked around the office quickly and then back at his confused face. "God I can't believe I'm saying this." She raked her fingers through her hair. "It's different.. Bug's my boss, Lily's part time, Peter's the BPD's golden boy now. Garret's I don't know.. playing golf or shuffle board or something I mean God, how can a group of people change so fast?"

She looked back up at his bright blue eyes.

"This job. This place. Was my whole world. It was my home." He smiled again finally understanding where she was going with this. "Your right though. Its not _our _home. Even when we lived here we were always closer out of Boston. It was always easier.." She looked at him for a minute, brushing the tears off of her face. "Ellie said pizza the other day and I called Delinda. Lily was in the next room and I called _Delinda_." He understood. "I come in here and your on the phone with Danny and I see the first real smile on your face in a week. I want to go home."

He pulled her into him and kissed her.

"If that's what you want." He teased, she shot him a look. "I guess I'd be willing to give it a try."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N, okay I've know for a few chapters this was coming. I know that some of you will like it and others will flip.. butThey wouln't let meend it any other way. I don't even watch Vegas and really disliked the second cross over.. but I always let my characters decide what happens in the story...**

**I don't own the song Hoobastank does. If I spelled that wrong its their fault for having a dumb name.

* * *

**

_I'm not a perfect person. _

_There's many things I wish I didn't do_

_But I continue learning..._

"You're just going back?" Nigel looked at her like she was insane. "We were just getting back to it." He grimaced, shifting his gaze from Jordan to Woody. "It was just starting to feel like old times."

"That's.. part of the problem Nige." Woody bit his lip looking for the words. "The last year or so before we left weren't really good times for us."

"Don't get us wrong." Jordan assured them. "We love you guys so much." She looked at Lily's t?tear-filled eyes. "It's not like before. You can come visit. I also.. I never got a chance to tell you how truly sorry I am for what happened, you all risked your reputations and your jobs for me. You'll never know how much that meant"

* * *

_I never meant to do those things to you_

_And so I have to say before I go_

_That I just want you to know..._

"It's time." Matt looked at him. "You guys gonna take off right after?

"Hey.." Woody watched Seely turn around. "You.. I never really.." Hoyt looked at his feet and then back up to him. "You're a good partner Seely. Santana's lucky to have you."

He watched Matt smile slowly.

"Your a good cop, you made me proud."

* * *

_I've found a reason for me_

_To change who I used to be_

_A reason to start over new_

_and the reason is you.._

Woody stood in the background while Matt moved his brother from the holding cell to the wagon. He'd had to fight the lump in his throat to answer when Matt offered to ride with him.

"It's my last act as your partner." Matt snickered.

He watched how Seely guided Cal by the shoulder with a solemn expression on his usually cocky face. He pressed his lips together as his brother glanced back at him.

* * *

_I'm sorry that I hurt you_

_It's something I must live with everyday_

_And all the pain I put you through_

_I wish that I could take it all away.._

Calvin didn't expect to see him there. Part of him never expected to see him again at all.

He couldn't help but give him a sheepish grin. Waving in a way that Woody might have done ten years ago.

His brother smiled and held up his hand. He almost shouted that he was sorry, but Woody knew.

Woody knew.

* * *

_And be the one who catches all your tears_

_That's why I need you to hear _

_I've found a reason for me _

_To change who I used to be.._

Jordan Hoyt (she'd decided today that was her name) put her hand on her husband's back. He reached around to her, pulling her arms around his waist and clasping her hands together.

"Ready?" He whispered looking back over his shoulder towards her.

"Yeah." She pressed her head against his shoulder.

* * *

_A reason to start over new _

_and the reason is you_

_and the reason is you _

_and the reason is you _

_and the reason is you_

"Bye!" Drew told the group excitedly, pulling his back pack straps up over his shoulders and pulling his father towards the door. "See ya in Vegas!"

He saw the way Garret Macy hugged his mother and wandered out of the living room. They guy named Bug turned to her.

"If you ever change your mind." She smiled at him shooting a glance at his Dad. "You'll always have a job here."

She kissed him on the cheek and hugged Aunt Lily. She was crying which he thought was too bad because she was really nice.

The tall guy opened the door and watched the ground as they walked to the car.

* * *

_I'm not a perfect person _

_I never meant to do those things to you _

_And so I have to say before I go _

_That I just want you to know..._

Woody said his thanks and goodbyes before boarding with the children, leaving Jordan and Nigel alone. She turned and looked at her friend with a smile.

"I owe you everything." She told him. "If you hadn't gotten us out of Boston.." Her voice trailed off. There would be no Drew or Ellie. She wouldn't be with Woody. "I'd have gone to jail, I'd probably still be in-." She shook her head, trying to force the image of her almost life out of her head.

"You'll come to Vegas?" She asked hopefully.

"Try and stop me." Nigel gave her a weak grin.

"If you ever get bored of autopsy, Woody could always use someone with your skills at the hotel."

"Ah, you know me love. I live for the dead." He paused a moment pondering whether or not to tell her what he'd found out.

"Yeah." She muttered absently. She needed to know. He slipped his hand inside the pocket of his computer bag he still had strewn over his shoulder.

"Are you happy?" He asked suddenly, his fingers brushing against the information in question. "Really happy?"

She smiled at him genuinely. Her eyes enveloping him. She was. He let go of the file and moved his hand to her shoulder.

"I never knew I could be this happy."

"I'm happy for you then, Luv."

He hugged her tightly before letting her get on the plane not knowing.

* * *

_I've found a reason for me _

_To change who I used to be _

_A reason to start over new _

_and the reason is you_

"I couldn't do it." He whispered into the phone.

"It's for the best." His best friend told him.

"He was her father." Nigel rubbed his head with his palm.

"He wasn't a very good one in the end." Bug reminded him.

"Yeah."

"If she ever asks you'll know." Bug said softly.

"Yeah." He looked back at the folder, tugging gently on the death certificate that the state of California had sent him, dropping it into the trash. He'd made arrangements for the ashes to be returned to the morgue.

"We'll spread them at the cemetery. It's what she would have done."

"It seems wrong." Nigel sighed.

"She's happy." Bug said softly, echoing the little voice inside his own head. "Let her be happy."

* * *

_I've found a reason to show _

_A side of me you didn't know.. _

"Do you see them yet?"

"I can't see anything over your fat head."

"Ooh is that them?"

"Only if he's gained sixty pounds."

"Enough!"

"Look, there."

Mary pulled her arm away from where she'd wrapped it around Danny's and made her way towards the security stop point.

"Aunt Mary!" Drew's small squeal echoed off the walls of the terminal as the woman dropped to her knees and opened her arms to him. Grabbing him and spinning him around. He pulled back and kissed her face before noticing the rest of his family.

"Grandpa! Uncle Danny! Everybody! We're home!"

Danny rubbed his hand across Drew's hair before moving towards Woody and taking the bags from him.

"So..we're home." Woody smiled at his partner as Sam grabbed Ellie and Delinda wrapped her arms around Jordan.

"Welcome home." He grinned back at him before shaking his head and moving towards the car.

* * *

_A reason for all that I do..._

_And the reason is you_

Woody turned back towards his wife and winked at her. She smiled back.

This was nice. This was right.. and home was right behind him.

_And the reason is you_


End file.
